The Start of Christianity in the Lee Family


Introduction to the Events:

Christianity has been in my father's side of the family for five generations. His side of the family includes a lot of pastors and elders from his cousins, great grandfather, to his own father. Christianity is still very strong in our family, and in our daily lives. He converted my mother's side of the family to Christianity when she was still a student in college. She had been going to church for a while, but she gave her all into Christianity after she had met my father and his family. Today, we still religiously go to church every week and help in every way to build more churches everyday.

Primary Sources:

My Brief Interview with my Father (August 31, 2012):
Question 1: When did Christianity really start in our family?
Answer 1: I wouldn't remember the exact date, but my father converted to Christianity before I was born. He was a young pastor trying to build many churches in the nearby neighborhoods.
Question 2: How do you think Christianity has changed our family?
Answer 2: I believe Christianity has done a lot for our family. We have made great influences and progress. My cousin became a very famous, and well known pastor in Korea. We set up and built many churches all over the world. We have converted many people throughout the world going on missionaries. I can say, Christianity has done a lot to others, as well as for this blessed family.
Question 3: Were your parents/family very strict about Christianity? Did they make you do daily routines differently in any way?
Answer 3: Well, its different from the freedom your mother and I give you and your sister. After school, we would have to come to the kitchen and sit down as we all read and talked about the bible. Then we would pray for all we had thanks for and to keep our family safe throughout the years. It was a pain at first, but later on, I realized how important Christianity affected my life.
Question 4: How did you convert so many people to Christianity? Including Mom?
Answer 4: I can't say exactly, and I'm not sure. I think we did it with the help of God. I believe the Lord has given us talent in that subject. He has given us the courage to spread His Word. As for Mom, I started dragging her more and more to different churches, until we finally found a one she would listen to and be interested in. It took her a long time, but I stayed patient. In her last year of College, she had met Christ. I found her alone at church, crying and praying for forgiveness. Asking God to show her, her path and lead her the way. She asked him to touch and clean her heart. She opened her eyes, and I saw a completely different person in her eyes.

Me: Thank you!
Dad: These questions made me consider making your sister and you read the bible with your mother everyday.
Me: This was just an interview. Bye.

Secondary Sources:

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The Generations of Christianity:

1st Generation: My Grandfather with his Family.

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2nd Generation: My Grandfather with his own family (my father and his brothers and sisters).

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This Picture is with all the American Pastors my grandfather and grandmother met while building a new church in Chicago.
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This Picture shows my grandfather with all the other elders and pastors in his church and the churches he set up.
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This Pictures shows my grandfather praying for two kids in his church.
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This Pictures shows another church he help build.

3rd Generation: My father with his brothers and sisters.

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This shows my Father's Brother becoming an Elder at his church.
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This Picture was taken when my Father had become an Elder at our church.
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This was when he retired from his long term job as a Pastor.
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Even after retirement, my Grandfather continued to speak out infront of the church for all to hear.
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When my Cousin got married, my Grandfather was asked to pray at the end of the wedding for the bride and my cousin.

4th Generation: My Sister and Me.

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This Picture shows how our family lunch was when I was still in Elementary School.
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My Grandfather and I.

5th Generation: (My Nieces and Nephews).

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More About the Sources:

The pictures here are pictures that family members have taken more and after I was born, therefore I did not take any of these pictures. The first picture of the book, was a book written by: Pastor Oak. These are all secondary sources.

Description of the Series of Events:

Christianity has been in our Family for over 5 generations now. It all started with my grandfather's father. He was the first in our family to convert to Christianity. He converted to Christianity when he was an grown adult, when Christianity first came to Korea. He grew up being very religious and so, my grandfather became a very strong Christian. When my grandfather was just a kid, he knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. He watched pastors give their sermons in Church every Sunday, and he was determined to become a great pastor and spread the Gospel as well. He met my grandmother when he was in High School and ended up marrying her. Her family was very religious which also made her a strong Christian. She wanted to help in every way she could to make it possible for her husband fulfill his dreams. They set up a small church in their neighborhood and he started giving sermons to the people living within the neighborhoods. Later on, they had children and ended up with 4 girls and 6 boys. All 10 children, being the Pastor's daughters and sons, became strong Christians when they were very young. Soon they immigrated to the States. They were the first of the family to immigrate into another country in our family. When they got there, my grandfather worked hard to learn English to communicate with other pastors. Soon he build a church, with the help of many different pastors and started his new career in Chicago. After years and years of giving sermons and devoting himself to his Churches he had built, he retired when he was in his 60s. All his sons and daughters had been married at the time, and they had started spreading The Word like their father had. My Grandfather's Nephew: Oak Han Hum (옥한흠). He became a famous Reverend in Korea in Sarang Church (사랑의교회). He wrote various books and made my grandfather very proud. However he passed away at a younger age than my grandfather did. He had made our family very proud and made a big difference to our family. Because of my father's cousin, we realized how short life really is, and we are trying much harder to convert people to Christianity everyday. Helping in the building of churches all over the world, going on missionaries and giving sermons to people who have never heard of Christianity, but most of all having hope and faith in God is what we need most to continue my Grandfather's dream.
Christianity had a great impact on my life, because if it never had come into my family. I would be getting up in the afternoon on Sundays. I wouldn't know half the praise songs in my iTunes library. I would never pray before meals and before I go to sleep. I did not realize before, but Christianity has grown greatly on me and has become a daily routine for me.

Significance:

In this entire page, I have mentioned the word Christianity, countless times. I believe this is important and it IS something to care and hear about. Christianity has changed the lives of thousands to millions of people. Hundreds and hundreds of people everyday. This shouldn't be just important because it is the biggest religion in the world, a big part of history, but also the life changing experiences people go through. It does not only make people happier about their lives, it makes a civilization, develops a belief and common interest for people, and it is also a big factor of history: keeping people involved. By this I mean, keeping people distracted and not to focused on the government, or else the government would most likely fail.
Lastly, because of the families it has changed. Like our family.

Time Periods (Dates of Most Important Events):

Start of Christianity: (34 AD) - 2000 years ago (do not know the exact date).
Grandfather: (1920-2012)
Father's Cousin: (1938-2010)
Father: (1957-)
Mother: (1952-)
Sister: (1988-)
Me: (1997-)